Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[mvossman]

There's enough evidence out there to confidently say Dallas decided they weren't going to offer Luka the supermax. This was a financial decision and an ownership call. Maybe Nico advised against the supermax, but regardless that's not a decision he makes in a vacuum. Ownership looked at the totality of the situation and decided Luka wasn't worth $345 million guaranteed. Everything falls into place from there. Dallas just had no leverage and you're talking about serious money.

Unfortunately we'll never really know if the Mavs were right or wrong. The most Luka can sign for now is 4 years $229 million but he'll most likely sign a two-year extension to put himself back in position for the supermax with 10 years of service. And of course now the Lakers have leverage the Mavs didn't. I think Luka will rise to the challenge and win multiple MVPs and Championships in LA but that doesn't necessarily mean the same thing wouldn've happened if Dallas guaranteed Luka $345 million this summer.

We may never know if the Mavs were right or wrong on the decision to give up on Luka (although I think most of us feel they are horribly wrong) we can say they were totally wrong on the way they went about it and the return they got.  Any competent ownership would have fired Nico already.

[Radical Mavs]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr47tFHu5Xk&ab_channel=HoopReports

[StrandedOnBeauboisHill]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr47tFHu5Xk&ab_channel=HoopReports

The relocation stuff makes no sense guys.  Do people realize that the Adelsons don't even own property in Vegas anymore?  Why not just wait for an expansion team which would be cheaper?  If James' wants to own a Vegas team, why would he be targeting a team that's already owned?

This was always about getting what they wanted IN DALLAS.  If the state of Texas denies them that then they'll just sell the team (please god let that happen).

Relocation is expensive and costs a ton of money and rebuilding a casino in Vegas is a bad business move because of the saturation.  It was all about the Texas untapped gambling market.

Also, the threat of relocating to Vegas would mean nothing to state politicians because they know that the NBA would block it or Dallas would now join Seattle at the top of the expansion list (would also be a fun alternate reality at this point).  This is the 4th biggest sports market in the country, this is not Seattle.  Relocating would be bad for everyone involved.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/27...Over-Trade


Luka is seething over the trade.
When do they play the Mavs again?

[hakeemfaan]

There's enough evidence out there to confidently say Dallas decided they weren't going to offer Luka the supermax. This was a financial decision and an ownership call. Maybe Nico advised against the supermax, but regardless that's not a decision he makes in a vacuum. Ownership looked at the totality of the situation and decided Luka wasn't worth $345 million guaranteed. Everything falls into place from there. Dallas just had no leverage and you're talking about serious money.

Unfortunately we'll never really know if the Mavs were right or wrong. The most Luka can sign for now is 4 years $229 million but he'll most likely sign a two-year extension to put himself back in position for the supermax with 10 years of service. And of course now the Lakers have leverage the Mavs didn't. I think Luka will rise to the challenge and win multiple MVPs and Championships in LA but that doesn't necessarily mean the same thing wouldn've happened if Dallas guaranteed Luka $345 million this summer.

Dallas still had leverage. If you don’t have leverage when you have a 25 year old perennial MVP candidate coming off a Finals run, then you might as well shut down this franchise. 

Let’s assume the worst case scenario that you throw bidding open to all teams and Luka gets ticked and says he won’t sign an extension with anyone other than the Lakers. So be it. My understanding is that he still is under contract for the Mavs.  The guy won’t dog it on the court. I would have taken the chance of the worst case scenario being we completely losing out on everything than settling on a meaningless AD  and late future first pick. 

Old organization or new, it’s only the Mavs who seem to always have no leverage when it comes to trades. Other teams always get more even for borderline all stars though in many of those cases they have had even worse issues. 

There is zero excuse for this being the best haul that they could have pulled off and claim they had very little leverage. Absolutely zero.

[DallasMaverick]

For those who haven’t seen it, here is Sir Charles’ take:

https://youtu.be/LA0_FFNwSBE?feature=shared

[Dahlsim]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr47tFHu5Xk&ab_channel=HoopReports

Saw this one and a few of the other ones that explore the Inexplicable dark side of this trade. 
The change in ownership and the clear political warfare over the gambling casinos appears to add up to a trade that is about more than basketball. 

The absolute failure to shop one of the most valuable assets in all of sports and at least get the highest bidders for the Lakers to bid against is just an inexcusable betrayal of your current city. Nico is too smart to do that without an agenda. 
Kidd made sure it was clear in the language it was not his decision. 
 Smells like a guy doing favors for Nike, LA, the revenue sliding NBA but most of all the Mavs ownership. 

Dallas fans are the sacrificial lambs.

[hakeemfaan]

For those who haven’t seen it, here is Sir Charles’ take:

https://youtu.be/LA0_FFNwSBE?feature=shared

This is garbage. We already addressed this in this thread. 

Barkley has been critical of AD the past two years saying he needs to step up and be more aggressive.  Now suddenly he is a heckuva player once he got traded away and Lakers got Luka?  Bark , SAS always want the Lakers to do good They are heavily involved in the scene there and if this trade was the other way around he is not saying how the lakers got a heckuva player. He would be ripping them to high he’ll.

Yeah he is a heckuva player but the criticisms that AD faced were valid too and are not magically disappearing here.  Plus he is 6 years older and no GM other than Niko would take AD over Luka. 

All you need to do when you think of this deal and try to rationalize it is come back to one basic thing. Remember what Pelinka said when he was first approached with this deal. His response by all accounts was “ARE YOU JOKING?” 

That’s all you need to know about this deal. This is a deal Pelinka would never even have approached with to the Mavs because he knew it was so absurd the phone would be hung up on him in a nanosecond if a halfway decent GM was on the other side.  Instead imagine his shock when the Mavs themselves threw this gift on his lap. He must have been pinching himself to make sure he was not dreaming.  What a disaster.

[JamesConway912]

Luka looked awful in the Lakers presser—almost on the verge of tears, at least to me. He was just going through the motions, saying generic things about the organization, LeBron, and JJ. The only real emotion came when he was asked whether there was any chance or indication that he might not take the supermax in Dallas and that’s why the Mavs moved first. He vehemently shook his head, laughing at the absurdity. He repeatedly said he had thought he would spend his entire career in Dallas—"It was home, you know." My heart was breaking at that point.

This body language expert agrees with me—it’s an interesting watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2qDgkI6TQY

Contrast that with AD’s interview for the Mavs—he genuinely seemed excited, giving more details and information in general. Of course, he was surprised, but he moved on quickly and remained highly professional. Even genuinely excited, like I said. I guess that’s good for the Mavs—looks like he wants to be here.

But man, we had Luka…

Watched a few clips of it, it’s awful. Really feels like something broke that should not have been broken. He was our dude and loyal to the core. 

The more time passes the more frustrating it becomes.

[hakeemfaan]

Watched a few clips of it, it’s awful. Really feels like something broke that should not have been broken. He was our dude and loyal to the core. 

The more time passes the more frustrating it becomes.

The thing is we are looking at a bare cupboard. Nothing to get excited about. If it is a conspiracy and the league has indeed promised Flagg to us, why wouldn’t they force us to trade him again to the Lakers when he reaches his supermax status. 

I will never root against the players who wear this jersey because it represents my team and city until they move elsewhere . At the same time , I will not root for th team either until the current GM and ownership are gone. It is a total betrayal given the cowardly way they went about the whole thing. I have zero interest in rooting for a team that sees itself as a developmental franchise for the Lakers.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I am not getting fooled by the current regime ever again.

[cow]

What will the billboards say?

It's all in the GoFundMe.  They are crowdsourcing the messaging but have already identified billboard near the AAC and cost breakdowns.

They story got picked up by:

https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/luka-...es-better/
https://www.wfaa.com/article/sports/nba/...0b4fd226f7

[hakeemfaan]

It's all in the GoFundMe.  They are crowdsourcing the messaging but have already identified billboard near the AAC and cost breakdowns.

They story got picked up by:

https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/luka-...es-better/
https://www.wfaa.com/article/sports/nba/...0b4fd226f7

Is the casino vote up to the general Dallas voting public ? 

If so, I hope every single person votes against it.

[hakeemfaan]

I am surprised that many of the other GMs didn’t protest. The returns for a caliber of this type of a player at 25 being so less regardless of how good AD is, the fact that it was done in secrecy by two folks who have a long relationship, and the fact that it hurts so many teams who are always trying their best to ensure their stars don’t demand a trade to LA or NY.

Even the stars like Booker land Giannis are now using this to say why blame the players when they ask to move. The one franchise loyalty that seemed to be coming back with Giannis, Jokic, Booker has taken a severe hit with this. This hurts 99% of the teams other than 2 or 3 marquee destinations that never have to fear their stars wanting to go elsewhere.

[michaeltex]

Kidd made sure it was clear in the language it was not his decision. 
 

I'm not sold Kidd was totally in the dark, regardless of what Nico says.

However, Kidd has done everything possible to keep his fingerprints off the decision, even if his opinions drove the initial discussions. He still has to coach the team and wants as few trust issues as possible.

[hakeemfaan]

Pelinka’ really sticking a knife into his “good friend” Nico with all the post trade leaks.

First the leak that Pelinka talked Nico out of a bigger package.

Now this:

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/27...-Offseason

Pelinka is having a blast.

[cow]

I am surprised that many of the other GMs didn’t protest.  The returns for a caliber of this type of a player at 25 being so less regardless of how good AD is, the fact that it was done in secrecy by two folks who have a long relationship, and the fact that it hurts so many teams who are always trying their best to ensure their stars don’t demand a trade to LA or NY.

Even the stars like Booker land Giannis are now using this to say why blame the players when they ask to move. The one franchise loyalty that seemed to be coming back with Giannis, Jokic, Booker has taken a severe hit with this. This hurts 99% of the teams other than 2 or 3 marquee destinations that never have to fear their stars wanting to go elsewhere.

Mostly agree but GMs might like the trade market being reset after the piles of assets for the likes of Gobert and Bridges.

[mvossman]

Mostly agree but GMs might like the trade market being reset after the piles of assets for the likes of Gobert and Bridges.

Not the ones forced to sell.

[vfromlmf]

Here's a conspiracy theory no one has mentioned. Suppose this was all a hostile takeover orchestrated by Kyrie. His quote "it's a ruthless business". His history of teaming up with stars. Was Kyrie really ok with taking a backseat to an overweight European who likes a postgame beer? Was Kyrie really shocked? I'm not so sure. Kyrie is super close to Kidd and Nico. AD was asked about his immediate reaction to the trade was "When do I get to Dallas"?

The interesting thing is Kyrie tried to do the same thing to Tatum & Brown in Boston and got caught.

There's just something fishy about all of this that makes me wonder.

[DallasMaverick]

This is old now, but an interesting analysis of Luka’s game:

https://youtu.be/dZfufGaRhHg?feature=shared

[hakeemfaan]

This is old now, but an interesting analysis of Luka’s game:

https://youtu.be/dZfufGaRhHg?feature=shared

He just took his team to the finals.   If the finals were a disappointment, reminder that many great players have had to pass through disappointments 

You have been trying your best to pump up this poor trade. 

I will remind you again of a few things

Pelinka is one of the shrewdest GMs. 
That GM when given this deal, asked if Nico was joking.   That’s how stunned he was 
There have been GMs who apparently said they would have given up “everything” if they knew Luka was available. 

All these GMs have access to the same analysis and data in this video. I will trust Pelinka over Nico. Forget that. Every player can be nitpicked.  Steph is not a great defender. Neither is Jokic. What you do though when you get those type of generational offensive talents is you surround them with long athletic guys in the other 4 spots. Kyrie is a better player than Jrue Holday but Holiday might be a better fit next to Luka.  

Yes the path is not easy when you do need to hide that but you were not getting a Wemby or a Giannis for him. Short of that every player has his warts and can be nitpicked.  So I will take a generational offensive player and try to craft my team as best as I can